If you have a conscience about your carbon footprint and your impact on the environment, you may have started to think about becoming more eco-friendly with your way of life. This is a good start of course, because every time you throw something away, buy something, travel somewhere or make something you will always have a thought for the environment in the back of your mind.

But most of us also have a thought for our finances to worry about too, and sometimes unfortunately the need to be frugal can prevent us being as green as we might like to be. The good news is, these two things do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Being green needn’t cost the earth
Sometimes buying organic or more eco-friendly products can be a lot more expensive than buying comparative mass-produced items. A lot of care goes into sourcing ingredients and components for eco-friendly products and growing organic foods often takes longer.
But there are ways to be eco-friendly without it costing a fortune and without your finances sabotaging your efforts to go green.

Up-cycling
When someone takes a piece of furniture, item of clothing or other product that is no longer wanted, looking shabby or out of date, and renovates it, this is known as up-cycling. Sometimes this can include using the items for a different purpose entirely, such as using potato sacks to cover chairs.

Up-cycled, retro furniture is very on trend. Because something that would have otherwise been thrown away is being made good, up-cycling saves on waste and also reduces the carbon footprint of new furniture being created and shipped. Car boot sales and flea markets are a great place to find items good for up-cycling.

Discount vouchers
Just like other everyday items and little luxuries, eco-friendly and green products such as Neal’s Yard remedies can be discounted too, so even if they are a little beyond budget at full price. When the time is right you may well find shopping coupons for all sorts of products that can save you a good amount of money on the original prices, and there’s no reason why you can’t stock up.

Signing up to newsletters from companies is always a good idea because that way you will know about discounts and coupons as soon as they become available.

Natural products are often on special offer, and there are also eco-friendly eateries such as Organic Foods & Café that will run a special promotion from time to time.

Dress agencies
If you have a special occasion that needs a smart outfit, rather than buying something new that you may not wear again, consider the greener option of hiring your suit or dress for the evening. Dress agencies often have designer garments that can be borrowed over the weekend for a very small fraction of the price of buying the clothes new.

Dress agencies also sell clothes that are second hand or nearly new, which is another great way to make savings on the full price of the garments. It also helps the carbon footprint of creating the garment in the first place by spreading its benefits a little further